Beginnings
by GinaW
Summary: An imagining of the story before, slightly during, and maybe after the war. Relations between humans and monsters are beginning to sour. How does it affect the kids? Some could end up changed forever...
1. Chapter 1

Young Gaster had his arms folded on the edge of the ship; staring out into the sunlit open ocean. He didn't bother sleeping last night, he wasn't tired. He was busy wondering about how things were in America. What the monsters were like, and if the humans were nice over there. He didn't want to leave his home in Europe, but his parents worked for the king as researchers and they received a letter stating that they were needed in the capital city. A few weeks at sea later and here they were, not too far from shore.

"Is everything alright? You've been out here since yesterday evening."

It was his father, Corbel, checking up on him. He stood proud and tall; he wanted to be like him one day. If only his parents weren't so into their work...

Gaster didn't avert his gaze and just simply nodded.

"I know that it's hard leaving everyone behind, but sometimes you have to look at the greater scope of things and understand what is most important." His father said; putting a hand on his child's shoulder.

"I don't understand why we have to move. Why couldn't you and Mum just visit the king and come home?"

"Because, son, it's our job under the king of monsters to help ensure everyone's safety. We've been summoned for something more serious and we must be available to report. I couldn't leave my family behind, now could I?"

"No..."

"Of course not. I'm sure you'll really like the capital city. You should find lots of new friends there."

"HeheheheheheheHAHAHA" A muffled chorus of laughter could be heard from the chambers of the ship, and a window slammed open to reveal an angry Snowdrake.

"Skeleton! If you don't come get your demon spawn skeleton dogs I swear to the gods...!"

Gaster and his father chuckled at what the bird monster called them.

"I'm on my way, don't get your feathers in a bunch."

The young skeleton was fond of his family's blasters; even if they were a nuisance to bystanders. They were common companions to skeletons where he came from; it's just that they had so many. 5 in fact. 5 giant skeleton dogs galloping around the ship and wreaking havoc. The captain would've locked them down in the hold if his father hadn't refused.

When the ship finally docked, the skeleton family was practically thrown off the ship. They made their way from the port and, just as they did, Verdana and Calibri sped away and galloped off into the city.

"Curse those hounds, they can never seem to stay put. Gaster, would you be a dear and fetch them? The last thing we need is for our first impression to be ruined." Gaster's mother, Candara, asked.

"Yes Ma'am." He said before running off after them. They left large prints in the dirt, so they wouldn't be hard to find. The prints led into a residential part of the city where their prints were lost in cobblestone paths. His attention was drawn towards telltale cackling and chuckles that said they were close. He rounded the corner and found them eating away at something with stray papers strewn here and there across the street. Another young monster around his age was standing nearby with a defeated look. They were a fire monster with the fire barely flickering about as they usually do.

Okay; first the problem. Questions later.

"Verdana! Calibri! Cut it out! What are you eating?" He shouted; pushing their skulls until he saw some crumbs and a stray piece of lettuce fall from their mouths. Uh oh.

"Ah geez, that was yours wasn't it? I'm sorry, they're just so greedy..." He said to the fire monster.

Well, there was no getting that lunch back now. He couldn't just leave it at that and go home, it was rude!

"Uh...sorry about my dogs. I could get you something else to eat if you..wanted...to..."

Gaster trailed off as the kid just looked at him. He wasn't saying anything and this was getting awkward fast. Then, the fire monster shook their head.

"It's fine, I wasn't that hungry anyway. I was just waiting for you to finish; you apologize a lot."

He did? He only did it twice. Was the kid not used to hearing them?

"You said those are _dogs_?"

"Well, sort of. They're blasters-since they fire lasers from their mouths-but they're like dogs, so they might as well be."

"Sounds...dangerous."

"Says the kid made of fire."

"I guess that's fair."

"I'm Gaster, I just moved here. What about you?" He said, extending an arm for a hand shake.

Wait wait wait the kid's made of fire, abort abort abortabort.

Oh.

It doesn't burn.

"My name's Grillby."


	2. Home

Hopefully Grillby hadn't noticed his 2 second panic attack, but something told him that he did and was just being nice about it.

"I have to get these two home, my parents are waiting for me." Gaster said while climbing onto Calibri's back. "I'll uh, see you around I guess?"

"Yeah, I work at the Inn most of the time. I'll see you if you ever stop by." Said the kid before he hurried off somewhere. Maybe to work? Regardless, he didn't have time to follow him now.

"Come on you two, we can't keep mum and dad waiting!"

Calibri garbled and trotted back to the port with Verdana close behind.

His mother was waiting for him on a bench when he arrived.

"There you are! If you were out longer I would have gone looking for you."

Candara picked up her son from the blaster's back and placed him on the ground before holding his hand.

"Come on then. Your father and the other blasters have gone to our new home already."

And what a beautiful home it was.

It was definitely nothing fancy. A well-built wooden two story house with a front lawn. Right inside the front door was a kitchen with a study down the hallway and the bedrooms up the stairwell. Gaster's room was at the end of the hall. It lacked a window, but he didn't mind. He plopped down on the bed and layed there. Being up all day, he hadn't realized how tired he had been. He didn't even bother asking his parents if he could accompany them to see the king; not that they would have said yes anyway. A scratch was heard on his door, followed by the garbled voice of one of the blasters. They spoke in nonsense, but he heard them long enough to know his name and the nightly routine.

"GASTER?"

"Yes?

"ARE YOU ASLEEP?"

"No."

The doorknob rattled as they fumbled with it. Perhaps he should get up and open it.

But he was sure they had it.

The door opened after some time and the blaster poked their head through the door so only their nose hole was showing.

"You can come in."

They did that now instead of barging in because one time they did and he wasn't exactly dressed. It was Arial this time and she came to tuck him in for the night. She gently pulled the blanket over him and pressed her teeth on his forehead in a kiss.

"Thanks Arial. Good night."

"GOODNIGHT TWO-LEG CHILD."

The blaster then left the room; pulling the door closed behind her. Gaster shuffled around under the covers to get comfortable before finally putting his head on the pillow to rest. His mind wandered to the fire monster he met earlier that day. Grillby, was it? Maybe he would stop by the Inn in the morning; he seemed like an interesting kid.

A/N: Just wanted to mention that this was long overdue. This chapter was released on AO3 months ago, but I delayed iy because I had no idea how to (and still don't) use styles on this site; so you guys get the untranslated version of Arial's dialogue.


	3. Visiting the Inn

A/N: "-space-" for story breaks because the mobile doc manager is terrible. The AO3 version has better formatting (and proper wingdings for the fidos)

That morning, Gaster woke up and got fully dressed, since he intended to leave early. With it being early winter, he settled on a white sweater to stay warm. He then made his bed and looked around to make sure everything else was tidy before he walked downstairs. His mother always made tea early in the morning, and he didn't want to miss her.

While on his way to the kitchen, he spotted Myanmar, another one of the blasters, with his head in the window. It didn't seem like he could get himself out either.

"Uh, Myanmar?"

"LITTLE BROTHER! IS THAT YOU?"

"What are you doing there?"

"A CONNIVING BIRD KEPT SCREECHING IN THE WINDOW THIS MORNING, SO I GAVE HIM WHAT FOR! I CAN'T GET OUT THOUGH, I'M SORRY…"

"I'll tell mum about it."

"THANK YOU!"He yipped while wagging his tail furiously."I KNEW I COULD COUNT ON YOU! THE OTHERS JUST LAUGHED AT ME."

Gaster continued on his way to the kitchen and found his mother already inside. She saw him in the doorway and gave a gentle "good morning", which he returned. She appeared to be making tea, but hadn't started breakfast yet.

"Pull up a chair, I've already got some tea for you." She said.

Gaster sat at the table and watched his mother pour the tea into the two mugs. She was still in her nightgown, and it swung slightly as she walked.

"Myanmar got himself stuck again." He told her

"Yes, I'm aware. You father forgot to trim his horns before it could happen again. I'll free him later once he's awake." Candara said. She turned around and saw that Gaster was fully dressed already; something he usually doesn't do in the morning.

"You certainly look ready for the day," she placed the smaller mug in front of him before taking a seat herself. "I couldn't even get your father up this morning."

"That's because he can be a lazybones sometimes." Gaster replied, taking a sip of his tea. It was nice and sweet with a bit of milk, just how he liked it.

"Indeed," Candara chuckled. "So where are you off to this early in the morning? The sun's barely up itself."

"To meet someone again from yesterday. He said I could visit if I wanted to. He works at the inn all day, so he'll be there when it opens."

"Is that right? What's he like?"

"He's a fire monster, and he looked around my age. He seems cool to know."

"Well I won't keep you then. Go on, just be back in time for supper."

"I will, thanks mum!"

The boy quickly finished his tea and dashed out the door. He didn't even put the chair back under the table. Before long, Corbel entered the kitchen, who was still trying to ward off the remains of sleep.

"Look who finally rolled out of bed." Candara greeted.

"You took the blankets and I was getting cold. Where's Wingdings off to?"

"Visiting a new friend of his. Dear, have you heard of a child working as young as him? All day?"

"Certainly not all day. It's probably family business, lots of shops are run that way. I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"…I suppose." She said, half convinced. The way her son described it still sounded strange, but it would be best not to think about it too much and jump to conclusions.

"So where's my tea?"

"You've got arms, don't you? Tea is for early risers, you know that. I've got to go free Myanmar. Poor thing got himself stuck trying to put his big head through the window. He's not the brightest beast you know."

"He's not stupid, just...curious."

Candara gave him a knowing look

"...I'll trim his horns again so you can get him out."

"Thank you."

-space-

Gaster entered the inn and looked around. There weren't many customers anywhere, was it always like this? Grillby spotted him from the counter and waved to call him over.

"I didn't think it would be so empty."

"We don't usually get many visitors in the morning, and most of the customers are asleep upstairs. I actually wanted to ask more about you yesterday, but I was in a rush. I've never seen a skeleton in person until yesterday."

"Really? Not ever?"

"Skeletons just don't live around here."

"My parents had a job to do with the king, so we had to move over here. I haven't asked you any questions yet though; what's your story?"

"I'm just a kid with a day job, there's not much to talk about."

"Not much to talk about? You're literally on fire! You can't tell me that's not pretty cool."

"It's not cool when people are usually afraid of you. They always think I'm gonna burn stuff. I mean, I can, I don't like to get that hot though."

"I don't like scaring people either."

There it goes again, that awkward silence.

"So...do you want anything?"

"Huh? Oh! No, not really. Sorry, I'm just not good at holding conversations..."

"It's alright, it's pretty funny seeing you like that."

Ouch.

"Gee, thanks. It's nice to know that you're entertained by my misery."

"Ah come on, I'm only teasing you." He said while giving the kid a playful shove; then he lowered his voice down to a whisper. "But seriously, I do need to look like I'm working right now."

"So why don't you just actually work?"

"Because I'm here all day, I'm resting now for when things pick up."

"That sounds hard, did you need some help?"

"I'm fine by myself, I've been doing this for a while."

"I'll go then, I don't want to get you in trouble."

Gaster said goodbye and made his way back home. Upon entering the front door, he was knocked down by a very happy Myanmar. His parents must have trimmed his horns , since there were now just short nubs where they used to be .

"I HAVE BEEN FREED! I SAT HERE WAITING FOR YOU, BECAUSE I WAS LONELY."

"Get off!" He said with an annoyed tone. The blaster whined and stood back up with an apologetic look.

"SORRY…IT'S JUST THAT YOU FORGOT TO PET MY FACE. MARLETT PET MY FACE TO BE NICE. IT'S NOT THE SAME."


	4. Continue on AO3

Hey! This story isn't dead actually; it's just that I've only been updating it on Archive of Our Own. The story has the same name, but my username over there is Dinocanid; so read it over there!

The main reason I no longer update here is that there's no way to use wingdings in text AFAIK, which is all the blasters speak (for the most part). AO3 makes that nice and easy for me.


End file.
